Lately I’ve read quite a few articles and blog posts about how poor people are being criminalized. The articles list examples from Ferguson, Baltimore, and other cities where incidents of social unrest have dominated recent headlines to prove their point. In order to summarize the point made in these articles, I will present the following scenario, as it represents many of the stories I’ve seen:
John Doe is poor and lives in Unicorpia. He received a ticket for illegally parking that was going to cost him $117.00. Being so poor, John couldn’t afford to pay the ticket, so he was charged a fine and court costs of $400.00 on top of the original ticket cost, which of course he can’t afford to pay, either. John spent six days in jail for failure to pay this and other traffic tickets, and he still owes the $400.00 in fines and court costs. John also owes back child support and has spent time in jail for failure to pay for that. He has a difficult time finding a job because he has served time, and when he does find a job, he loses it when he goes to jail for not paying the back child support. John often wonders if it’s even worth it to try anymore.
The Institute for Policy Studies has released a new report that highlights these supposed policies and practices that keep the poor people poor–also known as laws–and how they have led to the increased criminalization of poverty. Basically, the report says that it’s a crime to be poor in America.
Now let me tell you what none of these reports, articles, and blogs say.
1. They don’t say that everyone has to follow the same traffic laws, whether they are poor or not. If John hadn’t illegally parked, he wouldn’t have gotten the ticket, which wouldn’t have led to the fine and court costs, which wouldn’t have led to serving jail time.
2. They don’t say that these laws are created by the government. A government that the people elected.
3. They don’t say that if John supported his child like a decent human being, he wouldn’t owe any back child support.
4. They don’t say that if John couldn’t afford to support a child, John should not have made decisions that led to producing a child.
While there are too many laws on the books in my opinion, we all have to follow them. We don’t get to pick and choose based on our financial status, and we all face the repercussions if we don’t obey the laws. Every scenario where laws are broken leads back to personal responsibility, yet when I read these articles, all I read are excuses.
